東西方文化中工作與生活平衡的差異_風聞

正文翻譯

When it comes to work-life balance, Asian and Western cultures usually have different ways of discovering it.

當涉及到工作與生活的平衡時，亞洲和西方文化通常有不同的方式來表現它。

For many years here in Australia, I’ve juggled working a day job, chasing a writing career and making time for things on the personal and home front. Sometimes it feels like I’ve got too many things work and play-wise to do.

在澳大利亞的許多年裏，我一直在平衡着日常工作、追求寫作事業和騰出時間處理個人和家庭事務之間的關係。有時候我覺得我有太多的事情要做，要工作，也要玩樂。

Finding a work-life balance is arguably about juggling needs and wants. Finding a work-life balance often means organising time for things you want to do, and have to do whether you like it or not because it may impact the former and vice-versa – and trying to discover that ever elusive feeling called satisfaction all round.

找到工作與生活的平衡可以説就是要平衡需求與慾望。找到工作與生活的平衡通常意味着為你想做的事情安排時間，並且無論你喜歡與否都必須去做，因為這可能會影響前者，反之亦然——努力去發現一種難以捉摸的被稱為全面滿足感的感覺。

There’s no definitive means to measure the ideal work-life balance. Each of us has different priorities. At different points in our lives we’ll have different priorities. Each of us will live out the notion of work-life balance differently at different times in different parts of the world among different cultures.

沒有絕對的方法來平衡工作與生活。我們每個人都有不同的優先事項。在人生的不同階段，我們有不同的優先事項。我們每個人在不同的時間，在世界不同的地方，在不同的文化中，都會以不同的方式追求實現工作與生活的平衡。

In Asian cultures, there seems to be a strong focus on working to make a living. It’s not uncommon to hear of longer working hours in the corporate world in Asia compared to the Western world. In 2016, UK-based B2B marketplace Expert Market looked at 71 city hubs around the world: those in the 10 lowest work-life balance cities (Dubai, Bangkok, Hong Kong) work over 2,000 hours per year in the office, whereas those in the top 10 cities which are all European cities work around 1,600 hours per year.

在亞洲文化中，似乎非常注重為謀生而工作。與西方國家相比，亞洲公司的工作時間更長的現象並不罕見。2016年,英國的B2B市場專家觀察了71個世界各地的城市:排名最低的10個城市(包括迪拜、曼谷、香港)，每年在辦公室工作超過2000小時,而在排名最高的10個歐洲城市，每年工作1600小時。

原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.cn 轉載請註明出處

Similarly, not-for-profit organisation Catalyst surveyed 1,834 multinational female and male employees across South-East Asia and found 64% of them stressed the importance of furthering fledging careers. Commonly among Asian cultures, working hard to attain job security and earning one’s own stripes – by showing up and doing the work – are markers of professional achievement, pride and status.

同樣，非營利性組織Catalyst在東南亞地區調查了1834名跨國公司的男女員工，發現64%的人都強調了開發新技能的重要性。通常在亞洲文化中，努力工作以獲得工作保障和獲得自己的地位是足以自豪的。

原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.cn 轉載請註明出處

The more hours one works on the job to earn a living, the more one might be labelled a workaholic. Growing up in Singapore, I watched my dad come home late from the office most nights and work Saturdays – it’s all part of the job, he always said. Maybe this work-to-the-bone-autopilot-mode is ingrained in my genes. At one point I worked 11 hour days so as to get the job done on time, emailing my team at midnight what I finished, and functioning at work the next day without coffee. Most jobs I’ve worked, most days I’ve clocked up more than the standard working hours.

一個人為了謀生而工作的時間越長，就越可能被貼上工作狂的標籤。我是在新加坡長大的，我看着父親大多數晚上很晚下班回家，週六也要工作——他總是説，這是他工作的一部分。也許這種忘我模式在我的基因中根深蒂固。為了按時完成工作，我一度每天工作11個小時，在午夜時分還在給我的團隊發郵件，第二天不喝咖啡就開始工作。我做過的大多數工作，大多數時候我的工作時間都超過了標準工作時間。

Consequently, some Asians typically lean towards upholding a hardworking ethic and getting things done – perhaps getting things done as soon as possible too. Conversely, Westerners are commonly regarded as more relaxed, just like how many Australians are regarded as laid-back. Today in parts of modern Spain, Italy and Mexico, siestas or naps in the middle of work are still common, which is usually unheard of in Asian cities. This is not to say other ethnic groups don’t care about working hard; to be hired for any job, you have to do that job to stay hired. However, you can work hard and work smart, and still get the job done.

因此，一些亞洲人通常傾向於保持一種勤奮的職業道德，把事情做完或儘快把事情做完。相反，西方人通常被認為更放鬆，就像許多澳大利亞人被認為是懶散的。今天，在西班牙、意大利和墨西哥的部分地區，在工作中午睡仍然很常見，這在亞洲城市通常是聞所未聞的。這並不是説其他民族不注重努力工作;要想被僱傭，你必須把這份工作做好才能被僱傭。然而，你可以高效率的工作，聰明地工作，仍然能把工作完成。

Doing things now is my motto. If it’s possible, I’ll get things done right now, ASAP, way ahead before deadlines at work – even if I don’t like what my boss gave me to do. To me, this is a good use of time: show up to work, finish things now, move on to something else at work or go home.

現在就開始做是我的座右銘。如果可能的話，即使我並不喜歡老闆給我的工作任務，我也會立即、儘快地在截止日期之前完成這些任務。對我來説，這是一個很好的時間利用方式:上班，儘快完成工作，可以開始做別的事或回家。

In Western cultures there seems to be more of a focus on looking after one’s health and well-being on the job. While sick leave entitlement is the norm across the world, it’s those in the Western world who are more likely to use it. A study by PwC shows Australians take the most ‘sickies’ a year at 10 days (some using these days for non-legitimate reasons), with those in the UK taking an average of 9.1 sick days and in Asia 2.2 days.

在西方文化中，人們似乎更注重在工作中關注自己的健康和幸福。雖然在世界各地，請病假是一種常態，但在西方國家，請病假的人更多。普華永道的一項研究顯示，澳大利亞人平均每年請病假10天(有些人是出於非正當原因使用這些假期)，英國人平均請9.1天，而亞洲人平均請2.2天。

原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.cn 轉載請註明出處

Then there is also personal, maternity and compassionate kinds of leave (varying across the world), and many of us take them when we have to. No matter who we are, sometimes we work because we have and want to. But sometimes we simply can’t because other parts of life calls with stronger conviction.

此外還有事假、產假和體恤假(世界各地各有不同)，我們中的許多人在必要的時候會休這些假。不管我們是誰，有時候我們工作是因為我們擁有和想要工作，但有時我們就是做不到，因為這時我們對生活的其他方面有更熱切的想法。

The Western world seems more enthusiastic about taking time off work to enjoy doing what they want. Office workers in New York, Sydney, Moscow and Helsinki take more than 25 days of vacation days on average a year, while 15 vacation days is more common in Jakarta, Taipei, China and Bangkok.

西方世界似乎更熱衷於抽出時間來做自己想做的事情。紐約、悉尼、莫斯科和赫爾辛基的上班族平均每年有超過25天的假期，雅加達、台北、北京和曼谷的上班族平均每年有15天的假期。

Notably, how much annual leave one gets to take at a stretch depends on individual job requirements and whether it’s peak period in the industry one works in. Some of us might work multiple jobs or do shift work, for instance work in a café by day and club by night – which might mean keeping both jobs to make ends meet may be more important than taking an extended vacation.

值得注意的是，一個人可以連續休多少年假取決於個人的工作要求以及是否處於所從事行業的高峯期。我們中的一些人可能做多份工作，或者做輪班工作，比如白天在咖啡館工作，晚上在俱樂部工作——這可能意味着做兩份工作來維持收支平衡可能比休長假更重要。

For around three years after finishing university, I worked contract and casual jobs. These kinds of jobs didn’t come with leave entitlements but once I finished up a contract, there was time before the next one. One could call this my ‘gap years’, which is usually defined as taking a break in between studies; it’s something many Australians like to do. In between jobs, I drafted my first book and got this blog going. Living life this way, I felt like my own boss – much to the excitement of my friends who thought it cool to be a blogger with a bit of a following, and much to the disappointment of my Chinese-Malaysian parents who kept telling me over and over to get a ‘proper job’ to set myself up.

大學畢業後的三年裏，我做了一些合同工和臨時工。這類工作沒有休假的權利，但一旦我完成了一份合同，在我開始下一份合同之前就有時間了。你可以把這段時間稱為我的“間隔期”，通常定義為在學習之間休息一段時間;這是許多澳大利亞人喜歡做的事情。在工作之餘，我撰寫了我的第一本書，並開設了這個博客。過着這樣的生活，我感覺自己就像自己的老闆——這讓我的朋友們興奮不已，他們認為寫博客很酷，還能有一些粉絲。但這讓我的馬來西亞華人父母很失望，他們一遍又一遍地告訴我要找一份“合適的工作”。

How hard one decides to work or play depends on what they want out of life. For instance, today many employees in Singapore value work-life balance more: millennials here want to travel and spend weekends doing non-work activities. On the other hand, these days more and more Australians work overtime and more prefer payment over time in lieu – finding it harder to achieve a work-life balance.

一個人決定努力工作還是娛樂取決於他們想從生活中得到什麼。例如，如今新加坡的許多員工更看重工作與生活的平衡:這裏的千禧一代想去旅行，週末做一些與工作無關的活動。而相反，如今越來越多的澳大利亞人超時工作，更傾向於按時間獲取報酬，很難實現工作與生活的平衡。

Most of the time we need reasons to live ‘life’ if we were to get away from the fair bit of hours we put in in the office. We might work certain hours or days so we can care for someone. Or study to better our skills on the job or elsewhere. Or take part in cultural occasions. What might be ‘work’ to someone might not be ‘work’ to others, and the same thing can be said about ‘life’.

大多數時候，如果我們想要避免在辦公室裏投入的大量時間，我們需要找些理由來過“生活”。我們可能會工作特定的時間或天數，這樣我們就可以説我需要照顧某人，或去學習以提高我們的工作或其他方面的技能，或參加文化活動。對某些人來説可能是“工作”，但對另一些人來説可能不是“工作”，“生活”也是如此。

However the line between work and play can be a fine one, especially when it comes to doing something you love for a living. Work can be play and play can be work. For some this might be the ideal life: work at something you love, feel productive with a sense of purpose and feel good about yourself. We could be a full-time freelancer working odd hours making a living from stimulating passion projects. Or an entrepreneur who built their booming business passionately from the ground up.

工作和娛樂之間的界限是很微妙的，尤其是當你以做自己喜歡的事情為生的時候。工作可以是娛樂，娛樂也可以是工作。對一些人來説，這可能是最理想的生活:做自己喜歡的工作，有幹勁，有目標，有滿足感。我們可以成為一名全職自由職業者，在業餘時間工作，通過能激發自己激情的項目來謀生。或者是白手起家、充滿激情地建立起自己的企業。

On the other hand, some of us might prefer work and play to be distinct: show up to a routine day job we might have half a heart for, turn up to practice passion elsewhere after hours. Two different worlds, two different worlds to learn from whether we like them or not.

另一方面，我們中的一些人可能希望工作和娛樂是截然不同的:去做一份我們可能不太喜歡的日常工作，下班後通過其他的方式尋找快樂。兩個不同的世界，兩種不同的人生，無論我們喜歡與否，都可以從中學習到一些經驗。

原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.cn 轉載請註明出處

When I was a kid and teen, I dreamt of becoming a full-time radio presenter and writer, working as a creative for a living. As I got older and worked in different industries, I realised non-creative jobs are the more stable kinds of jobs that help afford certain luxuries which are also very much needs. And I find a lot of writing inspiration from working 9-5. In other words, my Chinese-Malaysian parents were right. But they were not entirely right about what makes me entirely happy.

當我還是個十幾歲的孩子的時候，我夢想成為一名全職的電台主持人和作家，以創意為生。隨着年齡的增長，我在不同的行業工作，我意識到，非創造性的工作是更穩定的工作類型，可以讓我掙錢來買某些奢侈品，這也是非常需要的。我從朝九晚五的工作中找到了很多寫作靈感。換句話説，我的馬來西亞華裔父母是對的。但他們對什麼能讓我完全快樂的看法並不完全正確。

The notion of ‘balance’ is subjective. The Oxford Dictionary defines balance as a ‘situation where elements are in harmonious proportion, and presence of mental and emotional stability’. However, nothing is perfect and so ‘balance’ is arguably an elusive illusion, and so is satisfaction too as we go after the shadow of perfection. Entrepreneur William Vanderbloemen suggests our life happens in seasons, in work-life rhythms. Some moments will be better than others. Almost anything that we do work or play-wise might turn out how we never imagined. As author Alain de Botton said:

“平衡”的概念是主觀的。《牛津詞典》對平衡的定義是“元素比例協調，精神和情緒穩定的狀態”。然而，沒有什麼是完美的，所以“平衡”可以説是一種難以捉摸的幻覺，當我們追求完美和滿足時也是如此。企業家威廉.範德布洛曼認為，我們的生活是四季更替的，是工作與生活的節奏。有些時刻會比其他時刻更好。我們在工作或娛樂方面所做的幾乎所有事情都可能變成我們從未想象過的樣子。正如作家阿蘭.德.波頓所説:

‘There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.’

工作與生活的平衡是不存在的。任何值得你為之奮鬥的東西都會擾亂你的生活。

At different times of our lives, we’ll have different priorities, different definitions of success and so different wants and needs. Working full-time I get to afford to eat and pay the bills and learn how the world works and how people think. Writing, which is something I never fail to look forward to, I get to reflect on what I’ve come across and express how I truly feel and figure out how to make things and most importantly other people feel better.

在我們生命的不同階段，我們會有不同的優先事項，不同的成功定義，不同的願望和需求。全職工作可以讓我吃得起飯，付得起賬單，學習這個世界是如何運作的，人們是如何思考的。寫作，這是我一直都很期待的事情，我可以反思我所經歷的，表達我真實的感受，並找出如何讓事情，最重要的是讓別人感覺更好的方法。

原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.cn 轉載請註明出處

There are days when it’s a bad day at work but then I’ll come home to an inspiring writing night. Other nights, there’ll be disappointingly no writing done but the next day work would be amazing. Sometimes both worlds would be disappointing at the same time, other times both flying on a high. Each world so different, each one reminding me of the good and bad in the other, each world keeping me grounded. And so I’ll keep on keeping on with both worlds – work to work, work to play, play to play, and play to work.

有些日子工作不順心，但回到家就會迎來激動不已的寫作之夜。而某些晚上，你可能會因為沒有寫出任何東西而失望，但是第二天的工作卻會非常棒。有時兩個世界會同時令人失望，有時兩個世界都會讓人心情愉悦。每一個世界都如此不同，每一個世界都讓我想起另一個世界的好與壞，每一個世界都讓我無法自拔。所以我將繼續保持這兩個世界——工作是為了工作，工作也是為了娛樂，娛樂是為了娛樂，娛樂也是為了工作。

There’s meaning in everything you do if you commit to it, work or play, like it or not.Do you juggle work and play well?

不管你喜不喜歡，無論你是投入到工作還是娛樂中，你做的每件事都是有意義的。你能兼顧工作和娛樂嗎?